Treadmills are exercise machines having a conveyor belt running over two rollers arranged at a distance from one another. The speed of the conveyor belt can be adjusted. Treadmills of this type are used to achieve, or respectively, maintain physical fitness.
The known conveyor belts for treadmills have two belts separated from one another, whereby the belts encircle two rollers which are arranged at a distance from one another. The two belts which are separated from one another accommodate numerous plates which are arranged consecutively in such a manner that they basically form a closed running surface. The plates which are, for example, glued or riveted to the belts are approximately 1 ½ to 2 cm thick and made of an elastomer.
In addition, there are treadmills made of endless belts having a foundation layer made of a textile, wherein said textile is coated with a plastic material.
The exercise period for runners on treadmills can run from a few minutes to over an hour or more, i.e. during said period, the running surface is run upon continuously. The exercise on a treadmill of this sort should serve in the function of maintaining fitness, and should ultimately replace running outdoors. When running outdoors, off of established paths, the musculature must constantly adjust for different surface structures. This means that when running, e.g. in a forest, due to the unevenness of the ground the muscles in the lower leg are exercised in a manner that they would not be, or would hardly be, otherwise engaged. This means that in exercising on a treadmill different muscles, simply due to the fact that one is running on an even surface, are not at all, or barely, engaged. This concerns particularly the musculature which compensates for a misalignment of the foot. Exercise of this type on an even surface leaves however, not only different muscle groups to atrophy or unengaged, but also leads in the end to atrophy of the tendons in the foot region, as these too are in no manner engaged as would otherwise be the case if the runner were on an uneven surface.
The basic objective of the invention accordingly is to provide a conveyor belt for a treadmill which recreates the experience of running on an uneven surface.
To obtain the objective it is proposed in accordance with the invention that the conveyor belt have on its upper surface, i.e. on the running surface, a contoured type structure such that the runners experience bumps and depressions when running on it. From this it is clear that the musculature and the tendons of the lower leg are engaged when running in proportion to the heights of the bumps and depressions on the upper surface of the conveyor belt.
A conveyor belt of this type serves however not only in the role of maintaining fitness for healthy runners, but also has quite definite therapeutic aspects. In this respect it should be noted that patients suffering from Parkinson's disease not only display an exaggerated trembling of the limbs, but also suffer from a lack of coordination in their movements and also suffer impairment to their sense of balance. In particular, due to the impairment of their coordination, and also the impairment of their sense of balance, many patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, particularly in advanced stages of the disease, suffer a lack of confidence regarding running. Due to the lack of motion, the musculature of the entire body also atrophies, particularly the musculature of the lower leg as well. In order to promote motor functions of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, getting them to walk using aids, such as railings or the familiar walkers, is already known. It has been shown however that the confidence of such patients suffering from Parkinson's disease is not sufficient, even for exercises with walkers or with railings, to get them to the point where they can run by themselves without such aids. This is explained for the most part in that practically every surface has a certain unevenness, which poses a danger to the Parkinson patient of losing one's balance when walking on such surfaces, i.e. placing one foot in front of the other.
As stated previously, due to the lack of exercise with these patients, the body musculature necessary for them to be able to move around independently is underdeveloped. For this, not only the primary leg musculature, including the lower leg musculature, but also the overall musculature of the body which is necessary for stabilizing the body when walking, is involved.
In this context, the availability of plates which one may walk on having a contoured surface is already known. It has been shown that patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, who walk on plates of this type, having a contoured surface structure, obtain a certain confidence in walking. By means of a contoured structure, having bumps and depressions, which may, depending on the conditions, display a difference in height of several centimeters, visual stimulation is also experienced by patients walking on said, the processing of which forces them to think about how they should approach an uneven surface of this kind. In particular, the combination of visual stimuli and appropriately corresponding physical stimuli promotes the motor functions and proprioceptive perception in not only patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, but also with normal, healthy people.
A further disadvantage of plates which may be walked on of this sort, even when a large number of them are distributed in a space, is that the patient adjusts to the contoured structure on a visual level. The possibility of adjusting to a certain repeating contoured structure is not present however when the patient is outdoors. There, the surface is always different. This means that the motor functions of the patient should not be controlled solely by means of visual stimuli, but rather, the patient should learn to adjust for changing surfaces independently of said.